diff --git a/hgext3rd/obsshelve.py b/hgext3rd/obsshelve.py
--- a/hgext3rd/obsshelve.py
+++ b/hgext3rd/obsshelve.py
@@ -61,6 +61,14 @@
 command = registrar.command(cmdtable)
 testedwith = 'ships-with-fb-hgext'
 
+configtable = {}
+
+# Duplicate the default in shelve.py, which we don't import here.
+configitem = registrar.configitem(configtable)
+configitem('shelve', 'maxbackups',
+           default=10,
+)
+
 backupdir = 'shelve-backup'
 shelvedir = 'shelved'
 shelvefileextensions = ['hg', 'patch', 'oshelve']